How to Approach Repurposing Content

Maddy Osman

In Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done, author Jon Acuff discusses the idea of shortcuts; how often they’re advised against, while also proving quite prevalent in our day-to-day. Just imagine using letters as the only means of long distance communication. And having to use lick-and-stick stamps at that!

The modern, fast-paced world we live in is full of short-cuts and more importantly, is dependent on them for most individuals and industries to function. As a digital marketer on a mission to drive your brand’s awareness and create user experiences that convert, this is certainly the case.

Content creation, as a means of doing just that, requires a fair amount of time and effort. Your team needs to constantly be ideating, creating, distributing, and strategizing based on the results to keep the train moving forward. With that in mind, consider repurposing the short-cuts needed to make your content work smarter, not harder for your brand.

Why Should You Repurpose Content?

The purpose behind repurposing content is commonly understood in terms of a brand’s ability to recycle pre-existing content for distribution. When you reinvent pieces into something new, it gives your team the opportunity to reach new audiences.

Every user, every visitor to your website has a preferred method of content consumption. Some may react best to videos while others prefer long-form articles filled with data. When you reconsider the ways in which you can present a piece of content, you create the ability to connect with people who may have overlooked it in its original state.

Additionally, there are always going to be factors in content distribution that can’t be controlled. Maybe during that first publishing date, timing wasn’t on your side. Or, perhaps the promotion strategy wasn’t flushed out properly.

If you put a fair amount of resources into something you truly believe to have great quality, consider giving it new life through repurposing rather than immediately going back to the drawing board.

How to Approach Repurposing Content

Believe it or not, there’s a methodical way to go about not reinventing the wheel. Of course, this approach still requires resources on behalf of your brand’s team. Make sure there’s a thoughtful, data-driven plan in place outside of “eeny, meeny, miny, moe.”

Audit Your Content Inventory

The first step in repurposing content is—surprise, surprise—choosing what to repurpose. Start by taking a look at your brand’s current content library. Regardless of how much you have to work with, it’ll help to systematically categorize opportunities based on the following characteristics:

Heavy traffic: Narrow in on the pieces that have driven the largest amount of traffic to your website by digging into Google Analytics. If it helps, build out a spreadsheet with information on unique views, time on page, etc. You can also take into account engagement metrics on social and the number of shares being driven from and/or to those channels.

Evergreen: It’s highly likely that, depending on your brand’s content strategy, you’ve created pieces that can be described as ‘evergreen.’ This term simply refers to content with longevity: something that’s applicable and relatable regardless of when it’s shared.

In need of updating: On the other end of the spectrum, you might generate material that proves less relevant as time goes by. Keep an eye out for pieces in your content repertoire that might have an opportunity for a second life with a little bit of updating.

Once you have a better lay of your brand’s content land, choose two to three pieces that might be worth testing the waters with. As you develop understanding along the way, you can easily work repurposing content into your team’s content development schedule more regularly down the road.

Tailor Your Old Content for New Audiences

Having settled on eligible content to repurpose, it’s time to reinvent that packaging. Here are a number of ways you can breathe new life into your brand’s content of days gone by.

From webinar to video tutorial: Say you hosted a highly attended webinar recently that boasted quality discussions and a fair number of follow-ups. Not only can you post the recording on YouTube for viewing by those unable to attend, you can also segment pieces of the webinar to remake into a series of shorter video tutorials. This will help in connecting with viewers that may only have 5 or 10 minutes to spare, rather than 30 to 60.

From blogs to drip email course: If you’re creating a series of relevant blog posts to live on your website, why not put them to work through email as well? Using the content in your highly-trafficked blogs, create an email course that distributes information in a series-like format. This is a great way to reimagine awareness-based content into something more applicable for the consideration stage.

From visual guides to Slideshare decks: A highly visual guide is something you can easily translate to a platform like slideshare. Break down segments around previously utilized graphics, create new ones as needed, and even develop additional content (i.e. a snazzy slide template) to pair with the finished deck for download.

Republish on a new platform: Sometimes it’s less about reinventing the content itself as it is exploring additional means of distribution. For example, if you have a blog post that performed exceptionally well on your website, consider hosting it on other platforms like LinkedIn or Medium. Don’t worry—it’s not considered SEO duplicate content on these specific platforms.

Ready to get more tactical in your approach to digital strategy? Learn more about how Mabbly can put stories to work—through content and beyond—for your brand.